Financial sector development, economic growth and poverty reduction: new evidence from Nigeria/Finansal sektorde gelisim, ekonomik buyume, yoksulluk oranin dusurulmesi: Nijerya Ornegi.

There is a common view that a well developed financial system will usher economic growth and further reduce the level of poverty. In late years the automaticity of this relationship in poor states such as Nigeria has been an area of considerable argument. This study attempts to examine this presuppose causal relationship between financial sector development, economic growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria. The study uses Autoregressive Distributed Lag model (ARDL) and Toda and Yamamoto No causality test, using a time series data covering the period of 1970-2011. The study includes poverty into the ongoing competing finance growth nexus hypothesis, in order to ascertain whether the poor segment of the Nigerian society have access to financial resources and also fully participate in the economic growth process in the country. Empirical results of the study reveal that financial sector development does not cause poverty reduction. This implies, increased in the supply of loan able funds due to financial sector development is not enough to ensure poverty reduction. Certain measures are important. Therefore, the results reveal, that economic growth causes financial sector growth. Implies that economic growth lead and financial sector follow. This implies that for financial sector development, economic growth is necessary, even though not sufficient for poverty reduction. Keywords: Causality, Financial Depth, Growth, Co-Integration. JEL Classification Codes: F21, F43. Buyuyen finansal sistem ve yoksullugun azaltilmasi gelismis ekonomilerin en onemli ozellikleri olarak karsimiza cikmaktadir. Son yillarda fakir ulkelerde, bu iki dinamik arasindaki iliski tartisma konusu olmaya baslamistir. Bu calisma Nijerya'da finansal buyume ve yoksulluk oraninin dusurulmesi arasindaki iliskiyi ARDL ve Toda, Yamamoto Modelleri'ni kullanarak ortaya koymayi amaclamaktadir. 1970-2011 yillari arasindaki surece iliskin neden-sonuc iliskisini ortaya koyacak datalar mevcut degildir. Ayni zamanda calismada Nijerya toplumunun fakir kesiminin de finansal kaynaklara ulasabildigi ve ulkenin ekonomik buyume surecine tamamiyla dahil oldugu analiz edilmektedir. Calismanin ampirik sonuclarina gore finansal sektorun gelismesi yoksulluk seviyesini dusurmemektedir. Finansal sektorun gelisimi yoksulluk seviyesinin dusurulmesine yonelik krediler alimini arttirmaktadir. Ote yandan, ekonomik buyume beraberinde finansal buyumeyi de getirmektedir. Sonuc olarak, tek basina yoksulluk oranini azaltamasa da finansal sektorun gelisimi icin ekonomik buyume sarttir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Neden-Sonuc Iliskisi, Finansal Derinlik, Buyume, Esbutunlesme. JEL Siniflandirma Kodlari: F21, F43.